La Paix des Dames
by Fourth Rose
Summary: Booth once told Brennan that it's a guy's job to fix things, but who do you turn to when it's the guy who needs fixing?
1. Chapter 1

The idea for this fic has been nibbling at my brain ever since the sides for the season 5 finale came out, and since it still works in the context of everything that happened on the show up to now, I decided to get it written before the finale. This isn't really speculation because I don't think the finale will play out anything like my story, it's more of an attempt to put my own spin on the future of B/B.

_La Paix des Dames_ ("Peace of the Ladies") originally referred to the Treaty of Cambrai that ended a war between King Francis I of France and Emperor Charles V in 1529. The peace treaty was negotiated between the King's mother, Louise of Savoy, and the Emperor's aunt, Margaret of Austria – hence the name.

* * *

"Dr. Brennan, nice to see you again."

"Temperance, please." Brennan gestures for the blonde woman to sit down at her table. It's the seat Booth usually occupies when he's at the diner with her, but she tries not to think about that now. "Thank you for coming, Rebecca."

She watches in silence as Rebecca signals the waitress and orders a cup of coffee. Parker's mother hasn't changed very much during the… two? three? years Brennan hasn't seen her; her hair is a darker shade of blond than the last time they met, and it looks like she's put on a few pounds, but it suits her well. She's still very pretty, but then, all of Booth's exes are as far as Brennan can tell.

Rebecca's polite smile disappears once the waitress has left. "It has to be important if you called me of all people. What's going on?"

Brennan appreciates that she's foregoing the social niceties; she's not sure she could have managed even five minutes of empty small talk right now. "It's about Booth."

Rebecca nods. "Yes, I figured it would be. Is anything wrong with him?" When Brennan doesn't reply immediately, she adds, "He's not sick again, is he?"

She sounds worried, and Brennan finds it strangely soothing. She noticed that these days, Booth and Rebecca get along a lot better than they used to, and it's comforting to know that he has people in his life who care about him. "No, he's physically fine. It's – he's been asked to go back into the army. They want him to train future snipers in Afghanistan."

Rebecca snorts. "Yeah, I bet they do." She pauses for a moment when the waitress sets a cup of coffee in front of her, but then adds, "I wish them good luck with that."

Brennan takes a deep breath, trying to ignore the hard, anxious knot in the pit of her stomach. "He's going to accept."

She wouldn't have expected that anything could aggravate the constant state of panic she's been in ever since Booth first told her that he was seriously considering the offer, but now she feels her insides turn to ice at the sudden change in Rebecca's expression. Brennan knows she's not very apt at interpreting displays of human emotion, but even she can't mistake the look on Rebecca's face for anything else but horror. "He's _what_?"

Brennan struggles for composure. "I wasn't present when the army representative talked to him, but from what Booth has told me, they're losing men because they don't have enough trained snipers, and they made Booth feel that it's his responsibility –"

Rebecca holds up a hand. "Yes, I know the whole 'guilt and duty' spiel, it's not like they haven't tried it before. I just can't believe that he would actually fall for it."

"I tried talking to him about it." Brennan does her best not to dwell on the details of that conversation. "I mean, I certainly understand the desire to save lives, and I know Booth's skills would make him very efficient in that regard. Still, I didn't expect that he'd seriously consider going back, given that he's still trying to cope with the things he had to do during his time as a sniper. However, when I pointed that out, he first got defensive, and then angry. It was extremely frustrating to reason with him – Booth isn't stupid, and he knows that he's being manipulated, but..." She focuses her attention on Rebecca, hoping she'll understand. "I suppose you know how Booth gets once he's made up his mind about something."

"You mean, how he digs his heels in when he knows he's messed up and doesn't want to admit it? Yeah, tell me about it." Rebecca has gone very pale. "He hasn't actually re-enlisted yet, has he? Because if he has, there's nothing anyone can still do about it."

Brennan shakes her head. "Cam made him promise he would take some time to think about it – at least until our current case is finished."

"And how far along is the case now?"

"It's all but done." Brennan hates the tone of desperation that has crept into her voice. "He said he was going to finish the paperwork tonight." She takes a deep breath, doing her best to regain her equilibrium. "Look, Rebecca, I'm really sorry that I'm dragging you into this, but I didn't know who else to turn to. Booth won't listen to me, or Cam. You're the person who knows him best –"

"I really doubt that." Rebecca smiles for a moment, although there's no humor in it. "Look, I won't even pretend to understand what's going on between the two of you, but what the hell did you do to push him _this_ far?" The smile has evaporated completely, and from the edge that has slipped into her tone, Brennan deduces that she's getting angry.

Her first instinct is to deny that she might be responsible for Booth's decision, but she can't bring herself to utter the words because she knows she'd be lying. She remembers all too clearly how he first told her he wouldn't go, no matter how hard the army tried to lure him back – but that was before she informed him that she was planning to leave for Indonesia for a year.

She still isn't sure he understood what made her decide to leave. Nothing has been like it used to be between Booth and her since that cursed day in Sweet's office. At first she thought that they would be able to handle it, that they'd eventually find their balance again, but ever since the Gravedigger trial, she feels like her world has tumbled off its axis, leaving her dizzy and disoriented, unable to find her bearings. With any hope for normalcy gone, she can't keep clinging to him because she knows what it's doing to him, but she has failed to make him see that – to him, it must look like she's throwing all his care and friendship back into his face.

Yet Rebecca has no way of knowing any of this, and she seems to regret her harsh words. "Okay, sorry, that was uncalled for. But you didn't see how he was back then, right after he came back from the army…"

"He said that he had a gambling problem." Brennan does her best to sound clinical; this isn't the time to let her emotions cloud her judgment. She has done that far too often lately, and she can see where it has gotten her.

Rebecca lets out a short, sharp laugh. "That's one way to put it. But that wasn't the worst of it." She hesitates for a moment. "Temperance, I'm only telling you this because I want you to understand, okay? I'm pretty sure Seeley would never talk to me again if he found out I told you."

Brennan nods; she knows how fiercely Booth guards his privacy as far as the darker parts of his past are concerned. It took him four years to admit to her that his father drank, after all. "I won't mention it to him, or anyone else. I promise."

"Right." Rebecca seems to weigh her words very carefully. "You know how he is, and he was even more uptight then. But when you're living with someone, it's hard to miss what's going on, even if he's putting up a tough front. He kept having nightmares – I mean, not like in the movies when people wake up screaming, but sometimes he would just sit up in bed in the middle of the night and not fall asleep again until morning. I tried to get him to talk to me about it, but he said it was no big deal. I figured he'd start talking when he was ready, but –"

"He told me a few things, over time," Brennan interrupts, remembering the day at the cemetery when Booth told her about shooting a Serbian general at his son's birthday party.

Rebecca's expression softens. "He's lucky to have you."

"I'm not so sure about that." Brennan regrets the remark the moment the words are out, but thankfully Rebecca doesn't ask what she meant.

"It wasn't just about the nightmares, though. It was like – like there was a part of him he never let me see, as if he was afraid I wouldn't be able to handle it. Sometimes, when we were fighting, he would just stop talking in the middle of a sentence and go stare out of the window for a while. Like he wasn't sure what he would do if he got too angry."

Brennan takes a moment to ponder this. She has seen Booth angry plenty of times, but she's never been under the impression that he was in danger of losing control. Except, maybe, that one time he shot a clown. "Are you saying that you were afraid of him?"

"No, but I was often afraid for him." Rebecca shakes her head. "I just can't believe he'd seriously consider going back. He's got Parker to think of now, and –"

"He said he wouldn't be putting himself in danger, since he'd just be training others behind the lines," Brennan interrupts again.

Rebecca sighs. "That's not how it works, and he knows it damn well. But even if it were true –"

"He'd be sending young men into the same kind of horror he has been through, fully knowing what they were about to face. And given his tendency to feel responsible for the people around him – " Brennan doesn't finish, because there's no need to; she can tell that Rebecca understands. Given her history with Booth, she probably understands better than Brennan herself does.

"Yeah." Rebecca is quiet for a moment. "When he picked up Parker last week, he mentioned that _you_ were leaving for a year."

"I'm not," Brennan clarifies hastily. "I got an offer for an extremely interesting project in Indonesia, and I considered going, but I've decided to send my most promising intern instead. It's a great opportunity for her, an opportunity I don't need any more given that I'm already one of the leading forensic anthropologists around the globe."

"Right." Rebecca gives her a strange look. "Did you tell him that?"

"Yes, of course." Brennan realizes belatedly that she's tapping her spoon against the tabletop and carefully puts it back on the saucer. She remembers all to well how eager she was at first to get away from it all for a while – from the painful awkwardness that gapes between them like a rift she can't bridge no matter how hard she tries, the fear of destroying the precarious balance between them for good if she pushes too hard, and the gut-wrenching panic that something might happen to him that takes him away from her forever. She no longer knew whether she was protecting him, or herself, or both of them – all she knew was that she needed to put some distance between herself and the convoluted mess her life has become because she couldn't take it anymore.

And yet she never expected that he would reach that point too, that things could eventually get too much for _him_ as well. She's gotten so used to him being her rock in every storm that she's almost forgotten that he, too, is made of flesh and bones like everyone else.

Of course, there was no more question of leaving once she heard that he was considering going back into the army. She doesn't have Rebecca's insights, but she knows Booth well enough to understand what it would do to him to return to a part of his life he has so desperately tried to leave behind. What she didn't anticipate, though, was that he would still be willing to go through with his plan even after she'd told him she had cancelled hers.

She has been forced to realize that it's much more painful to have something precious wrenched from her grasp than to throw it away herself. She's aware that Booth's decision has nothing to do with pride – he's given up every pretense of that when it comes to her, but she doesn't blame him that he's finally given up on _her_ after she kept rejecting his pleas. She knows that she has pushed him past the breaking point, that she's going to lose him no matter what she does, but right now she doesn't allow herself to dwell on what it will mean for her – all she's focused on is that whatever happens, she can't let him pay the price for the mistakes she made.

Rebecca doesn't interrupt Brennan's thoughts; she has put her elbows on the table and is absentmindedly gnawing on the knuckles of her left hand. At long last, she lowers her arm and pushes her untouched cup away. "So what do you expect me to do?"

"I don't know." It's an admission that doesn't come easily to Brennan, but this is no time for pretenses. "I was hoping that you would have an idea."

Rebecca exhales sharply. "I do, but I can't say I like it very much." When Brennan opens her mouth to ask the obvious question, she raises a hand, cutting her off. "I'd appreciate it if – if you didn't talk to me right now, Temperance."

Bewildered, Brennan falls silent and watches Rebecca dig her cell phone out of her purse. She looks as if something is upsetting her badly, but her voice is calm and composed when she starts speaking into her phone.

"Hi, it's Rebecca. Do you have a minute? – Yes, I know you're busy, but this is important." She listens for a moment, a frown creasing her forehead. "Seeley, I have no idea what you're talking about. Who's Colonel Pelant?"

Brennan opens her mouth to point out that Colonel Pelant is the army representative who's been talking to Booth, but Rebecca shushes her with a furious glare and a slicing motion with her thumb across her throat.

"Look, I don't care, okay? I need to talk to you about something that concerns Parker. It's – Jesus Christ, Seeley, calm down! No, he's not, and he's not in trouble either, it's just – look, I don't really want to discuss this on the phone. Can you come by my place around seven tonight? I don't have a sitter for Parker, so I can't leave."

She listens for a second, grimacing at something Booth is saying on the other end of the line. "No, he's working late, you won't run into him. – Okay, I'll see you then!"

There's a strange expression on her face when she snaps the phone shut, and Brennan finds herself squirming in her seat. "You thought of something?" She supposes Rebecca will to try to make Booth stay by pointing out his responsibility towards Parker, and she hopes she's more successful with that than Cam was, because according to Cam, Booth almost bit her head off when she mentioned it.

"Maybe." Rebecca reaches for her purse and pushes back her chair, brusquely cutting off the next question Brennan wanted to ask. "No offense, Temperance, but this is between Seeley and me. If it works, I'm sure you'll be the first to know."

Brennan stares after her as she walks out of the diner, hoping for all their sakes that Rebecca knows what she's doing.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, Bones, come on, we've got a case!"

Brennan's head jerks up from her computer screen at the sound of Booth's voice booming through the lab. He's certainly loud enough, but she still has trouble believing that she's heard correctly. Before she has time to get over her astonishment, he has already swept into her office, a Styrofoam cup of coffee in his hand and a grin on his face.

"Jeez, Bones, it's six thirty in the morning, do you ever go home? I swung by your place to pick you up, but you weren't there –"

"I had a lot of paperwork to catch up on," she stammers; it sounds like an excuse to her own ears. The truth is that she barely slept last night and finally gave up around four o'clock, deciding that she'd better get some work done if she wasn't going to sleep anyway.

"Well, forget about it now, we've got a long drive ahead of us. What are you still waiting for? Chop, chop, we gotta get going!"

"Sure, I – I'll get my gear…" She feels like she's stepped into a scene from a happier past, a time when Booth would burst into her lab like a small tornado and happily drag her away instead of walking on eggshells around her like he's been doing it lately. She hasn't seen him in such a good mood for months, and now she's becoming painfully aware of how much she has missed that easy smile lighting up his whole face.

He fills her in on the details of the case on their way out – a badly decayed corpse found in the middle of a wood by a hiker –, but she barely listens. She clutches the coffee he has pressed into her hands, the heat against her skin serving as proof that no matter how surreal she feels, she's wide awake and neither dreaming nor imagining things.

Once they're in the car, Booth switches on the radio and hums along to the music while they're making their way out of the city. Brennan casts sidelong glances at him, trying in vain to decipher his behavior. This isn't them any more – she hasn't experienced this relaxed, companionable silence between them ever since… _then_. Things have been normal on the surface, but there's always a false note to everything they do, every word and look careful and laden with apprehension. They're partners, and they both still know that each of them would die for the other, but the easy, comfortable camaraderie they once shared has been shattered completely. Booth danced with her at her high school reunion and let her cling to him during the horrible days of the Gravedigger trial, but in their everyday interactions, he always keeps himself a little apart from her – no more casual touches, no more unannounced late-night visits with takeout food at her apartment. She remembers what he said about 'moving on' back then, and she has tried to take her cues from him – when she once would have gone to his place in the evening to help him with paperwork or to discuss a case, she now meets him on neutral territory, at the diner or the Founding Fathers. Something that used to make them special is gone, and Brennan doesn't know how to deal with the fact that things feel suddenly normal again for the first time in months when their partnership is on the brink of falling apart and nothing should feel normal at all.

She can only hope that the sudden change in Booth's demeanor is an indication that Rebecca's plan was successful, but she doesn't see a way to ask Booth about it without revealing her involvement. So she keeps watching him out of the corner of her eye while she sips her coffee and listens to him humming along to the radio, out of tune as always.

It's Booth who finally breaks the impasse. "You're awfully quiet today, Bones. Everything okay?"

For some reason, the simple question leaves her with a tight feeling in her throat, and she has to take a deep breath before she can reply. "Yes, I'm fine, thank you." She pauses, and then quickly adds, "You're in a good mood today."

"Yeah, I guess I am." He stretches his arms for a moment, pressing his back against his seat. "I had a long talk with Rebecca yesterday evening."

"Oh?" Brennan does her best to act surprised, although it feels uncomfortably like a lie. "Talking with Rebecca doesn't usually make you this cheerful."

He shoots her a quick look. "Is that an undertone I hear, Bones? Because when I say 'talked', I actually _mean_ 'talked', you know."

"What – oh!" It takes her a second to get the implication. "No, I didn't mean – I mean, I wasn't thinking…" She falls silent when she sees his grin and realizes he was merely teasing her. Still, she's struck by the thought that perhaps _this_ was Rebecca's idea – making Booth stay by suggesting that the two of them get together again for Parker's sake?

She dismisses the thought immediately, chiding herself for such an outlandish assumption. To the best of her knowledge, Rebecca is in a long-term relationship, and even though Booth hasn't worn the dolphin tie in weeks, he is still seeing Catherine as far as Brennan is aware.

"Yeah, whatever. Rebecca told me she got an offer to lead some big marketing project at the company she works for – I didn't really understand what it's about, and it doesn't matter anyway, because the important thing is that she'll have to move to New York for the next ten months if she wants to do it."

Brennan isn't sure how to reply; this is definitely unexpected. "Is she going to accept?"

"She says it would be an important career move for her, but the problem is Parker – if she takes him with her, he has to switch schools now, and then again when she comes back, and she doesn't think that's good for him. So…" Booth pauses, and now he's smiling again, that brilliant smile she has missed so much lately. "She asked me if Parker could stay with me while she's away."

Brennan suddenly finds it difficult to breathe. "And did you agree?"

"Are you kidding?" Booth is no longer smiling now, he's _beaming_. "Ten months with my boy? Bones, I've never had him longer than five days in a row since he was born! Of course I agreed!"

Brennan clutches her empty coffee cup so hard that her fingers leave dents in the Styrofoam. It's utterly heartwarming to see him so happy, but her rational mind can't help pointing out the possible problems she sees looming ahead. "This isn't going to be permanent, though, is it?" Booth frowns, and she clarifies hastily, "Are you sure this won't lead to Rebecca moving to New York on a permanent basis? With Parker, I mean?"

She fully expects him to be angry with her for spoiling his good mood, but to her surprise, the beaming smile is back on his face. "Bones, I'm not stupid – that's the first thing I asked her."

"And?"

"And she said that she knows how important Parker is to me, and..." Booth sounds like he's the one with a lump in his throat now. "She promised that she won't ever take my boy away from me."

Brennan falls silent, stunned by the magnitude of this announcement. She knows how much his son means to Booth, and how devastated he was whenever Rebecca dangled the threat of revoking his visiting rights over his head. It hasn't happened in a long time, and Brennan is aware that Booth and Rebecca are on quite amicable terms now, but she still wouldn't have expected Rebecca to surrender her most valuable bargaining chip like that. She can't even begin to imagine what a relief it must be for Booth to no longer worry about being separated from his son for good.

"That's… great news." Brennan reaches out and places her hand on his arm for a moment. "I'm really happy for you, Booth."

"Thanks, Bones." The warmth in his tone makes her throat constrict again, and she hastily removes her hand, summoning all her courage for the question she is dying to ask him.

"Does that mean you're not going back into the army?"

Booth is silent for a moment, and she notices how the muscles in his jaw contract as if he were clenching his teeth. When he answers, his tone is clipped. "Yes, of course it does. I already left Pelant a message that I'm not available."

Brennan bites her lower lip, desperately searching for the right thing to say. The relief she expected to feel hasn't set in yet, and she just wants to make him understand how much this means to her, how grateful she is that for all her mistakes, she at least hasn't ruined his life completely. The words won't come, though, and after a while she gives up and settles for a simple, "I'm glad."

Booth's posture relaxes, and his voice is quiet when he answers, "Yes, me too."

They ride on in silence for a long time; Booth keeps his eyes on the road, and his expression doesn't give away what's he's thinking. Brennan finds herself studying him out of the corner of her eye again; now that she's paying attention, she can see in his face that these past months have been hard on him. The lines etched into his forehead and the corners of his mouth are a lot deeper than they used to be, and the shadows around his eyes make him look tired and significantly older than he is. She feels a fresh stab of guilt at the thought that no matter how difficult it must have been for him, he has always been there for her when she needed him, and the only thing she has given him in return lately was a little white lie about a dead president.

She tears her eyes away from his face, reining in her racing thoughts. Now that it seems like they will keep working together like they used to, it's time for her to make good on her word and really allow him to move on, to leave the pain and heartache she has caused him behind. It will probably be easier for him now that Parker will be the focus of his life, and hopefully Catherine can help him too.

With that in mind, she asks in the most encouraging tone she can muster, "What does Catherine think about Parker living with you for almost a year?"

She expected another smile, and perhaps a story about how good Catherine is with children, but Booth's expression is as neutral as his tone when he replies, "I didn't ask."

"Oh." Brennan falls silent again as she realizes that she seems to have touched upon a sensitive topic.

Booth notices her discomfort and takes pity on her. "Hey, Bones, it's okay." His easy smile makes her relax a bit. "It's not like I'll have much time for dating anyway, now that I'm a full-time single dad."

At this, Brennan can finally bring herself to smile back. "You don't seem to mind."

"I don't." Booth slows down the car and points at a narrow dirt road leading away from the main road and into the thick of the forest. "Hang on, this is where we're going, and it looks like it's going to be a bumpy ride. On the plus side, we're almost there."

It turns out that the road isn't that bad, and it doesn't take them long to reach their destination, a small clearing where Booth parks the SUV next to an empty police truck. Brennan pulls her coverall over her clothes while Booth gets her bag; when she steps up to him, he's scanning the lush undergrowth that surrounds them.

"Local cop said we should leave the car here and take a small footpath leading away from the clearing – ah, there it is. Come on, Bones, let's go!"

Indicating the path he discovered with one hand, he places his other hand on the small of her back to steer her towards their destination.

Brennan stops dead, feeling as if all the air had left her lungs in a whoosh that makes her head spin. It's a small gesture, and it used to be so familiar that she barely noticed it any longer, but now the long-missed gentle pressure of his fingers on her back finally makes the realization hit that this is _real_, that Booth is right next to her, alive and whole and happier than she has seen him in a long time, that she's not going to lose him to duty and war and pain and her own mistakes.

The relief that floods her is so overwhelming that for once, her rational mind loses out against her instincts. In the next moment, her arms are around Booth in a hug that is so tight it probably knocks the air from his lungs.

Booth tenses, and for one heart-stopping moment, it seems like he's not going to respond. Brennan freezes, remembering too late that things are no longer like they used to be, that she doesn't have the right to hug him whenever she feels like it any more. There is no Gravedigger now, no heartbreak or danger that gives her an excuse for clinging to him; she is the one who set up these new boundaries between them, and she has no right to overstep them now.

Yet she can't bring herself to let go, and then his arms come up, gently encircling her in the safety of his embrace like they've always done. It feels like a homecoming.

"I'm sorry, Booth." She whispers it into his neck, over and over – "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…," and then, because she _needs_ him to understand, "It's just that I'm so happy right now –"

The arms around her tighten, and she feels rather than hears him sigh softly. There is a strange edge in his voice when he murmurs into her hair, "Bones, I swear you're gonna be the death of me one day."

"I hope not." Brennan knows he didn't mean it literally, but his words still hit much too close to home, touching upon the fear that has been haunting her ever since she dreamed about him drowning every night. Again, she searches for words, for a way to make him understand without causing him further pain, and she finally remembers something she heard him say a long time ago, when they were both playing unfamiliar parts during that undercover investigation in Vegas. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Booth draws in a sharp breath and gently pushes her away until he's holding her at arm's length, his dark eyes intent on hers as if he were searching for something in her gaze. "I gotta say you've got a funny way of showing it, Bones."

Brennan forces herself not to look away, although she feels the sting of tears in her eyes and hates that he has to see it. "I know, Booth, I –"

"Hey." He shushes her with his finger on her lips; the touch is brief and feather-light, but it still sends a jolt through her. "It's alright, Bones, I get it. You and me, we've got stuff to work out, but there'll plenty of time for it later, and today – let's both just be happy today, okay?"

He gives her a smile, and although it turns out a little lopsided, Brennan feels an unexpected peal of laughter bubbling deep in her throat. She blinks back the tears that are threatening to spill over her cheeks. "Okay."

"Great." Booth releases her and picks up her bag again. "Then let's go find some bones for you."


	3. Chapter 3

Rebecca doesn't look all that surprised when she opens the door. "Temperance, hi. Want to come in?"

Brennan steps over the threshold, but doesn't move further down the hallway when Rebecca closes the door behind her. "I'll only be a minute. I just – just wanted to thank you."

"Please don't." Rebecca's tone is measured, but there's a small crease between her eyebrows that, under different circumstances, would cause Brennan to conclude that she was in physical pain. "Look, I'm going to be very clear on this – I care about Seeley, but I wouldn't part with my baby for anyone's sake, not even his. I'm glad you came to me with this, but not for any reason you need to thank me for."

Brennan bites back the reflex to tell her that she doesn't know what that means. Booth would know, of course, but this is something he can't help her with because he must never hear about it, so she has to muddle through on her own. "You wouldn't have gone to New York if I hadn't told you?"

"I'm not sure, but I'm damn sure that I would never have gone without Parker." The pained expression on Rebecca's face is growing more intense, and it's only now that Brennan starts wondering how much her decision to leave her son with Booth for ten months is affecting _her_.

Like so often in emotionally charged situations, Brennan finds herself at a loss for words. At long last, she settles for an "I'm sorry" because she can't think of anything else to say.

Rebecca shakes her head. "Don't be; we should both thank our lucky stars that this came up at the right time. I'll manage, and when I come back, my little boy will still have a father who's neither half a world away, nor dead, nor damaged so badly that he can't be there for him any more. Seeley and I have had our differences, but he's a wonderful father, and I'm not going to let Parker lose his beloved dad if I can help it."

"That's a big sacrifice to make." It sounds clinical to Brennan's own ears, but Rebecca takes it in stride.

"When you love someone, you put their needs before your own. That's how it works, isn't it?"

Brennan pauses, trying to make sense of her conflicting emotions. "I suppose so."

"Temperance." Rebecca sounds grave, as if she were about to tell her something extremely important. "I know it's technically none of my business, and I told you before that I don't understand at all what's going on between Seeley and you, but even I can see what it's doing to him. I think you really, _really_ need to work some things out, because next time I probably won't be available to clean up your mess."

Brennan appreciates her bluntness; she has always found it refreshing when someone has no qualms about saying what they really mean. "Yes, I know." Trying to reach safer ground again, she hastily continues, "And I'll be happy to help him with Parker if it should become necessary. If that's alright with you." The last part is added as an afterthought because it only now occurs to her how Booth used to react to the men Rebecca let get close to his son. He seems to have made peace with her long-time boyfriend (what was his name, again? Brennan can only remember "Captain Fantastic"), but she can see how Rebecca would be wary of her ex's work partner spending too much time with her son.

Rebecca doesn't seem bothered, though. "I'm sure Seeley would appreciate that; I don't think he really knows yet what he's getting himself into. And Parker thinks you're cool."

Brennan is strangely pleased by this admission, but she still wants to make sure this won't create a new problem. "You don't mind?"

Rebecca smiles ruefully. "Hey, I can hardly ask Seeley to keep you away from Parker after I gave him hell for trying the same with my boyfriends, can I? There's no way I could explain it to Parker, either."

"Booth and I are not together." The correction comes automatically, even though Brennan knows it's unnecessary with Rebecca.

"To Parker, that doesn't really make a difference," Rebecca replies with a shrug. "You're the woman he sees together with his dad all the time, so you're a part of his father's life as far as he is concerned."

_Will you be my village?_ The memory comes unbidden, but Brennan pushes it aside; she isn't sure how everything that has happened between them will affect the way Booth wants her to interact with his son. It's his call to make, so she decides it's no use to dwell on it now.

There's something else she wanted to tell Rebecca, although she doubts it will come as a surprise to her. "It means the world to Booth that you promised not to take Parker away from him, you know. I don't think I've ever seen him so happy."

"I can imagine." Rebecca's tone is tinged with something Brennan can't identify. "In hindsight, I know I should have told him a lot sooner, but for a long time Parker was the only way I could get through to him. You know how goddamn stubborn he can be."

Despite her indignation on Booth's behalf, Brennan has to laugh. "Yes, I know."

Rebecca sighs. "I felt bad about using his son to blackmail him, but I couldn't think of any other way to make him get his act together. I still don't think he'd really have managed to turn his life around like he did if it hadn't been for Parker. Ironic, when you consider that I broke up with him before Parker was born." Brennan's astonishment must have shown on her face, because Rebecca raises her eyebrows. "You didn't know?"

Brennan shakes her head. "He didn't talk about it much. From what he said, I supposed you left him because of the gambling."

"It was a factor, yes, but we'd have gotten past that if it had been our only problem. But – things were never quite the same after I said no when he proposed. Somehow, it must have convinced him that I thought he wasn't good enough for me."

Brennan inhales sharply, forcing her racing thoughts to remain focused on the present. It won't help anyone to dwell on the memory of that moment on the stairs when _she_ was the one to tell Booth no. Rebecca doesn't notice anything; she seems to be getting drawn into her own memories.

"I packed my bags when I was six months along with Parker – I knew it was shitty timing, but I'd just had enough. Figures that he'd really get his feet on the ground once I was out of the picture, but perhaps it was the kind of wake-up call he needed. I still think it was Parker who really set him right, though – that's when he started to get a grip on his temper, when he got the gambling under control – "

"Booth was still gambling when I first met him six years ago," Brennan points out, careful not to think of what happened right _after_ Booth confessed his addiction to her.

Rebecca snorts. "By that time he lost a few bucks over a game of pool here and there, he was no longer blowing all his money playing poker with a bunch of card sharks in Vegas. I don't know about you, but I'd call that an improvement."

Brennan is about to agree with that assessment when Rebecca turns away from her. "Parker, you're supposed to be in bed!"

Parker is standing at the end of the hallway in his pajamas, his feet bare and his hair in wild disarray. Yet, he doesn't look sleepy at all when he darts towards Brennan with every sign of enthusiasm. "Hi, Bones, what are you doing here?"

"It's 'Dr. Brennan', Parker!" Rebecca admonishes, but Brennan shakes her head.

"It's alright, Rebecca; let's consider it a patrilineal privilege."

The corners of Rebecca's mouth quirk up at this, but Parker ignores the remark. "Is Dad here too?" He's looking around as if he expected Booth to hide in a corner of the hallway, and Brennan is strangely touched by the boy's assumption that his father has to be near because Brennan is.

"I'm sorry, but he said he had to go home to finish the paperwork from our last case."

"Oh." Parker's face falls, but then brightens again. "That's okay; he was here yesterday, and I'll see him again Saturday. Did you know that I'll move into his apartment in two weeks? Dad says he's getting me a new bed because I grew out of mine, and a new closet too because I'll need more of my stuff there now!"

"Yes, I heard," she replies seriously; she has never seen the point in talking to children as if they were stupid. "You sound very excited about it."

"It's totally cool!" Parker has sidled up to his mother and grabs her hand. "I'll stay with Dad for almost a year, and we'll do all kinds of stuff together that we didn't have enough time for until now, and Mom will call me every day and come home every weekend to see me, right, Mom?"

Rebecca smiles at him, although even Brennan can see that it costs her some effort. "I told you, sweetheart, I can't promise for sure that I'll make it every weekend, but I'll come see you as often as I can. New York isn't that far away, and I don't mind a few hours on a plane to spend time with my boy."

"And I'll come to New York with you to visit, too!" It's half a statement and half a question, and it seems to Brennan that although Parker is very much looking forward to spending more time with his father, he's still seeking reassurance about the fact that he'll be separated from his mother for the first time in his life. She understands that he's anxious, but she's confident that he'll be able to cope. He'll always know that his mother will come back to him eventually, after all.

"Yes, you will, and we'll do lots of fun stuff together, too." Rebecca bends down to hug him, and Brennan suddenly feels uncomfortably like an intruder. This is a very private moment, and she has no business witnessing it.

"I should really be going –" she begins, but Parker interrupts without even looking at her.

"Mom, why did Dad kiss your hands yesterday when you were talking?"

"Parker!" Rebecca straightens, a faint blush coloring her cheeks. "What did I tell you about listening in on other people's conversations?"

"I wasn't listening!" the boy defends himself. "You told me to go play in my room, and I did, but the door was open, and I saw you sitting on the couch with Dad, but I didn't hear what you said! You were talking all serious, and Dad looked kinda nervous, and you took his hands and said something, and then Dad just stared at you for a really long time, and then he took _your_ hands and kissed them. Like this." He clutches his mother's hands in his and presses them to his lips, then quickly lets go. "I thought people only did that in old movies."

Brennan tries to swallow around the lump forming in her throat. This is such a Booth gesture to make – she can easily picture him there, having one of his deepest fears taken away by a simple promise, and trying to show the woman he used to love just how much of a gift she's given him. She blinks a few times, willing her eyes to remain dry.

Judging by the choked sound of her voice, Rebecca has similar problems. "I guess – I guess he did it because he was very happy at the time."

Parker frowns, an expression that makes him look so much like his father for a moment that Brennan feels her breath catching in her throat. "Dad doesn't go around kissing people's hands every time he's happy."

"Only when something is really important." Rebecca crouches down so that her eyes are level with her son's. "When you were born, I had to go to the hospital real quick, so your dad couldn't make it in time. I went to sleep afterwards because I was very tired, and when I woke up, your Dad was sitting next to my bed with you in his arms, and when he saw that I was awake, he took my hand and kissed it."

"Because of me?" Parker asks with a grin, and Rebecca leans forward and presses a kiss on his forehead. "Yes, because of you, buddy. And now say goodnight to Dr. Brennan, you're going back to bed!"

Parker obediently turns towards Brennan, but instead of saying goodnight, he asks innocently, "Does Dad kiss your hands?"

"Parker!" Rebecca yelps, and Brennan struggles to keep her face neutral. "No, he doesn't."

"Why?" Parker's dark brown eyes – his father's eyes, Brennan can't help thinking – are wide and utterly guileless, but Brennan feels nevertheless like he's lured her into a minefield.

"I guess I don't make him happy all that often, Parker."

Parker frowns again. "He usually looks happy when he's talking about you."

"Parker, that's enough, you're going back to bed _now_." Rebecca's tone is sharp, and Brennan is grateful that she's coming to her rescue. Parker seems to understand that his mother is serious this time, because he beats a hasty retreat with a quick "Night, Mom, night, Bones!" thrown over his shoulder.

"I really should be going," Brennan says as soon as Parker is out of earshot. "Good-bye, Rebecca, and sorry for bothering you."

"It's fine." Rebecca opens the door, but then speaks up once more when Brennan is about to walk out the door. "Temperance?"

Brennan turns around again, frowning. "Yes?"

Rebecca's expression has changed; it's softer, more open than before, and it makes her look younger somehow. "You'll take good care of my boys, yes?"

Brennan's frown deepens. The request seems illogical, given that Booth is most definitely not a boy, and he hasn't been Rebecca's… anything for a long time. She opens her mouth to point out that Booth is a grown man and doesn't need anyone to take care of him, but she stops herself. She's suddenly thinking of long evenings spent over paperwork, of car rides spent bickering over religion, of shared fries at the diner, of dark moments filled with holding on to each other and dark days spent in a silent hospital room, and of the way his arms came up to hug her back just this morning. It defies logic, and probability, but in spite of everything the center still holds, and right now Booth is at home with their paperwork after a very tiring day and probably didn't even take the time to grab dinner somewhere in between.

Ignoring the nervous knot in her stomach, Brennan quickly calculates the distance to their favorite Thai restaurant. She isn't really sure whether this is a good idea, but she trusts that Booth will tell her once she shows up at his doorstep.

Her mind made up, Brennan gives Rebecca a nod, although she can't quite manage a smile. "I will."


End file.
